Lovie Stands Alone In Florida

To prepare for the sweltering grind of training camp, Joe mowed his lawn Saturday in late afternoon under sunny skies. (Please remind Joe to never be so foolish again.)

The effort was not worth the satisfying post-mow Beck’s Dark guzzling. But it did get Joe thinking about Lovie Smith’s choice of training camp practice times and how it compares to those of his Florida coaching brethren.

Lovie and the Buccaneers will practice in the afternoon, primarily late afternoon into early evening, when temperatures and humidity typically are at their highest.

The Jaguars, however, have nearly all their public, full-pads practices starting at 9:55 a.m.

The Dolphins? Try 8 a.m.

It’s an interesting contrast. Lovie wants his team to feel every painful inch of the heat and he’s not fearful of afternoon storms and lightning delays disrupting the Bucs’ rhythm. Tampa Bay opens with two 4 o’clock home games. Miami has two of its first three games in the South Florida swelter; Jacksonville opesn on the road in northern cities.

One could surely make a case for early practice times versus late ones, and vice versa.

Greg Schiano was an 8:45 a.m. guy. Though it sure seems unlikely, Joe wonders whether some returning Buccaneers will secretly yearn for their old coach after a couple of practices. Nahhh!

Joe,
If you like dark beer that is not too heavy, try Murphys Irish Stout. It may be a little hard to find, but is very good. Another one I love is out by you: Cigar City Brewery makes a dark beer that is fantastic; I just don’t know if they bottle it. Sorry for being a little off topic…

For reasons Joe can’t quite figure out, he’s underwhelemed with Cigar City brew beers, and craft beers in general. Hotter than Hales is OK if not good on draft (only). The rest, Joe will stick with his mass-produced staple.

Joe has tried umpteen different crafts and has yet to find one that Joe just has to go get. It’s gotten to the point that Joe has given up.

There is some beer (can’t remember name) from Brooksville Brewing Company that, again, is OK but not a must-have.

First you say that the only way to have a cut of Prime Rib is well done and now Beck’s Dark?!? Dude. Next thing you’ll be telling your readers is that buying a Pontiac is the only way to go.

Joe ONLY eats beef well-done. Joe doesn’t like hives, sorry.

And Bud Light > just about every craft beer Joe has ever tried. These craft beer folks have people completely conned, man. Slap a silly name on a bottle and claim it’s brewed in [email protected], Ga. and you can absolutely gouge people right and left.

Meh! How many times have we heard this? The heat is our advantage! We will wear our white colored jerseys! They will fade in the 4th quarter because we are used to the heat. Very seldom has this been the case.
Too many times have I seen the Saints, proudly wearing their black jerseys, kicking the shizz out of our Bucs in the 4th quarter. A freaking dome team!
This strategy is ok as your cutting the chaff from your team early in camp but as you get your final roster down to size Dungy Jr. needs to ease up on them.
The new limits on pad practice rules may help in this regard. Not entirely sure how those work for Spring training.

And Bud Light > just about every craft beer Joe has ever tried. These craft beer folks have people completely conned, man….”

You are ruining my image of you my friend. Beef should NEVER be eaten well done, NEVER! But your next line has scarred me for life. How can you say Bud Light > most craft beers? If the craft beer industry is conning ppl, they have done a darn good job of it since its a billion dollar plus industry. Did Goldson use you for a tackling dummy?

Its ok. I will make you a deal. I will try your Brooklyn Lager (where do I get it in “Kissimmee North”) and you try my Murphy’s Irish Stout – you will not be disappointed. It is not a ‘craft’ beer; it is mass produced in Ireland. Thanks for keeping me from going crazy during this slow stretch. Great job as always.

I rarely disagree with Rachel Watson’s thong but in this case I do. They’ve already taken most of the teeth out of training camp already(if you listen to ex-players) AND, name one instance where a game starts at 8, 9, or 10 am. I think it’s important for conditioning to practice in the same weather you play in.
That’s my thought anyway!

We’ll see Eric. I’m still going to the games, but I’m not sold on the hype yet.
We lost the home field advantage when we lost all the players that Sam Wyche drafted.
We lost the home field advantage when the Glazerhouses quit spending money on the Bucs and spent it on their kickball team.
We lost home field advantage when Dominick was made GM.
We lost home field advantage when the Glazerhouses went cheap and hired Rah.
We lost home field advantage when the fans bought boats and quit
coming to games. (I bought a boat and kept coming to games too. Winning!)
We never lost home field advantage because of practice start times.

The last time the Bucs had a winning season, on hot days they practiced in the Trop. Swaying to the beat of rap music as I recall. I believe in July Eminem and Rihanna was the top song. Different strokes for different folks! Lol.

Fellas in here know there are two “Joes.” How one could think Guinness is not the among the nectar of the gods is outrageous, per “this Joe.” … (Cue the dream of scantily clad ginger lasses pouring this Joe the perfect black and tan while he consumes a medium rare filet after a Bucs victory.)

Thanks for playing Joe. We’ll agree to disagree on the meat and Barley-Pop discussion. Ever have a Natty Boh while at Camden Yards? Had a few this weekend while sitting in the “not quite Tampa” heat of Baltimore. Watched the O’s take 2 out of 3 from the Donkees. If the Ray’s can’t win, the next best thing is watching Donkee Fan suffer.

….BTW, not the beer I’d normally choose but it worked in the heat. You’d love it I suppose.

It’s settled, ‘other Joe’ definitely is the one with better taste! How anyone could want their steak well done is beyond me. Medium I can understand..

For the other Joe..

The only way rare beef = hives, is if you are eating some really, really bad meat. Raw could be iffy if the meat is not high quality of course. But cooking a steak to rare, med-rare, or medium should NEVER give someone hives or make them sick. Unless the quality of meat is complete s(p)it, or it’s going bad… Which in either case, you just shouldn’t eat it at all.

Joe you should try medium-well or medium from a very good and trustworthy steakhouse. I use to be a well done guy also. many due to the same fears you have of hives or getting sick. Medium/medium well will be a worlds better and you won’t turn back after trying it

You could say that there were times when we were in the NFC Central we had home field advantage early in the year, but once the weather began to cool in the south it was like all bets were off. Now that we are in the South division, all four teams are in the south, well N.C. is close, so the advantage really now comes down to the twelfth man, before weather. The only way to get fans in the seats is win, which happens to be something this area is allergic too. So if Lovie is right, maybe the first home games are sweltering hot with a packed stadium, will somehow give us the advantage. I just worry about our teams ability to deal with it through camp. Will it tear us down physically where what seemed like an advantage for the first couple of home games now has us coming in without our legs under us. It could end up being counter productive.

@Joe Says:
“…How one could think Guinness is not the among the nectar of the gods is outrageous, per “this Joe.” … (Cue the dream of scantily clad ginger lasses pouring this Joe the perfect black and tan while he consumes a medium rare filet after a Bucs victory.)”

Joe, you need to talk to Joe. He is messed up man!!! Bud Light? Well done beef? This is a depraved mind. Probably thinks Myron Lewis was a great draft pick and Ms Watson is a dog. HELP HIM!

If you don’t like craft beer or imports, at least you tried it before you knocked it. That’s respectable. There’s just so many styles and flavors available I don’t agree with anyone preferring the piss water that companies like Bud put out.

I’m guessing the only way the Bucs get a home field advantage is when there are significantly more boisterous and energetic Bucs fans at a home game than there are Packers…er, visiting fans from colder climes attending the games. Practice times probably aren’t that big a factor, and if the Bucs have a losing season I imagine we’ll start seeing bloggers here comparing practice in the afternoon heat to running “gauntlets”

Eat beef your whole life and you won’t live a long one, so say the latest studies. Human teeth are actually perfect for a diet of fruits, nuts and grains. I eat no meat for at least 20 years. Back when I did, it was very well done. You don’t need to eat meat to be healthy.

When Don Shula first took over the Dolphins they had brutal 3-4 a day practice sessions in the even more hot and humid south Florida summer, including a 12 minute run at the end of the practice day. These were the teams that went to 3 straight super bowls and had a perfect 17-0 season. He even denied them access to water for hours at a time to “toughen them up”. This is of course illegal today, but my point is if you have tough. well-conditioned players it doesn’t matter when you practice. I’d be more concerned with thunderstorms wiping out practices. By the way, Shula mellowed and went easier on his players even before the player’s union made him, and never won it all after that.

Wow Joe’
IMHO Yuengling Light Lager is way better than Bud light.
Best beer served in a can. or in a bottle or on draft. and with only 99 calories. w/e I’m 6’4″ 215 lbs at 48. Maybe it has helped me some.

I like the late practice time. A early practice make the players shuffle out about 2-4 pm while a late practice puts the players out the door 8-9ish maybe having dinner at one buc. Then head home. We will be playing our first real games this season at this time of the day, rain or shine. So even if we have some lightning delays “we” have had this in practice, we stay sharp & focused and then go out and execute the plays called.

Getting very excited to have Training camp start. Most I hear about here In NE ATL is Falcons news about training camp hard knocks etc. Tried some of the the Tampa sports radio racket, that I am not overly excited about.
Go Bucs!

The only way rare beef = hives, is if you are eating some really, really bad meat. Raw could be iffy if the meat is not high quality of course. But cooking a steak to rare, med-rare, or medium should NEVER give someone hives or make them sick.

Joe is allergic to beef. Found this out the hard way as a kid. Joe’s old man loved rare beef and everyone at the table had to have it cooked his way. Always broke out in hives. Used to hate beef. Then, found out why.

Any allergist will tell you if you are allergic to a food, cooking it will help cook out the allergens. Since Joe started eating well-done beef, no problem.

Beer: The first (and last) time Joe tried to drink Guinness he nearly puked (literally). Got sick to the stomach. Couldn’t finish a third of the rancid milk shake. Luckily, a CVS was nearby so Joe could eat mass quanities of Tums so he didn’t yack.

I heard on one of those science programs that human’s brains got bigger when we started eating meat due to its’ high concentration of protein. If that’s the case, are those who choose only to graze, limiting their chance to be smarter than a 5th grader?